Sustainability Needs To Be Taken Up As A Curriculum Right From Primary School: B Thiagarajan, MD & CEO, Blue Star
Sustainability has become an integral part of business today, it is no longer just a fancy term. To truly achieve it - it has to become a part of the mindset.
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BW Businessworld recently hosted its ‘BW Sustainability Dialogue’ on the theme ‘Integrating Sustainability and Business.’
The day-long webinar hosted eminent environmentalists and business industry experts who presented their views on how sustainability has become an integral part of the entire business spectrum. The discussions revolved around the impending need for businesses and industries to make sustainability a core part of all their processes.
The opening session of the webinar hosted B Thiagarajan, MD & CEO, Blue Star in a fireside chat with Sudhir Mishra, Founder & Managing Partner, Trust Legal. The interaction between the two experts shared insights on how the electronic brand has been able to make careful sustainability choices.
Sudhir Mishra rightly pointed out that the problem for our country comes in when we talk about environmental protection acts. “What is the pain point for your industry so far as the environment is concerned,” Mishra asked.
Speaking about his industry, Thiagarajan said, “We are an industry that impacts the environment as we deal with air, water and food, the three things on which life depends. Energy conservation and sustainability comes with its own price. While we may say that it is going to benefit, I want to highlight that there is some initial cost of achieving sustainability in any industry.”
He stated that the real dilemma of pursuing sustainability is that it comes up with an initial cost. “The role we are playing here as a brand is to get the government to incentivise sustainability in a huge country like ours.”
Air conditioning and refrigeration industry today in terms of energy labelling program is the leader of the world.
Speaking about the sustainability practices of the corporates, Thiagarajan said, “We see sustainability and business as two different things in India. We do not integrate them both. The root cause of this problem is education. Sustainability needs to be taken up as a curriculum right from primary school to change this scenario.”
Thiagarajan shared practices which his brand has been following as a part of their sustainability strategy. “As far as Blue Star is concerned we are ahead of the energy labelling program of the country. We play a very active role in the India Green Building Council. We are also working on how wastage can be reduced in the water purification process.”
He mentioned that one major issue we face in order to promote energy conservation is that we need to give incentives to 5 star rated electronics. “For this the government has to come up and provide tax concessions so that people are encouraged to buy energy conserving products. Other than this the government is doing a great job. We have an excellent working relation with the government and I am extremely satisfied with the role it plays for our industry,” he concluded.